E-bike theft is now its own crime wave

The numbers moved fast. In New South Wales, theft of motorised bicycles rose 27 per cent over two years, from 1,644 to 2,080 in the year to March 2026. BOCSAR, the state crime statistics agency, now calls e-bike theft the biggest single driver of growth in other stealing offences. Victoria tells the same story: 8,573 bikes reported stolen in the year to March 2025, up more than 8 per cent, and most were taken from around the home, not the street.

That last point matters. The bike parked in your carport or apartment garage is the one most likely to go. Treat home storage as a target, not a safe place.

Buy the lock before you buy the bike

A $4,000 commuter deserves more than a $30 cable lock. Look for the Sold Secure rating, the independent standard most quality locks carry. It runs Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond, graded by how long the lock survives a workshop attack. For e-bikes there is a separate Powered Cycle grade, because thieves bring better tools to a bike worth four figures. Treat Gold as your floor and Diamond as the goal.

The shapes that hold up are hardened D-locks, heavy chains and folding locks. Abus, Hiplok, Litelok, Kryptonite and OnGuard all make rated options. A folding lock such as the Abus Bordo carries to the shops easily and still earns a Gold grade. Angle grinder resistant locks now exist too, and on an expensive e-bike they are worth the weight.

Lock it like you mean it

A good lock used badly protects nothing. Thread it through the frame and a wheel, then to something fixed and solid: a ground anchor, a bike rail, a steel post. Locking only the wheel leaves the rest of the bike behind. Two different locks beat one, because they force a thief to carry two sets of tools and burn more time. Park in light, in view of a camera where you can, and vary where you leave it.

At home, bring the battery inside. It is the most expensive single part, it charges safely indoors, and a bike without it is far less use to a thief.

Track it, register it, photograph it

Register the bike with BikeVAULT, the free national database. Log the frame number and your details, and if police recover the bike they can match it back to you. Photograph the serial on the frame and keep the receipt, because a claim and a recovery both need proof it is yours.

A tracker buys back the odds. Some bikes, such as the Aventon Level 3, ship with built-in GPS. On everything else, a hidden tag tucked into the frame or a tool bag gives you a location to hand police.

Your insurer is reading the fine print

Cover for an e-bike often turns on what you did to secure it. Many policies pay out only if the bike was locked to a fixed object with a rated lock, and some name the Sold Secure grade they expect. Read the wording before you need it. The cheap lock that voids a $4,000 claim is the most expensive lock you can buy.